Periyar
Saturday 1/12
We arrived in Periyar yesterday and took in a few sites including a martial arts exhibition. When we were in China we visited the Shaolin Temple which is the birthplace of Kung Fu. A particular style of Karate is said to have orginated in Kerela and this was a demonstration of some of that. It started out with some forms which were not too exciting and culminated in some acrobatics through a burning ring of fire. Tara snagged a video of the ring lighting. We were about 15 feet away and it was hot, I can imagine a brush with the metal would have been fun.
Todays adventure was through the Periyar Tiger Preserve. It was a 1.5 hour hike through dense forest out to a lake, a breakfast, a bamboo raft cruise on the lake, then a 1.5 hour hike back to the entrance. The kids are particularly fond of 1.5 hours hikes and were very disappointed that there were only 2.
We saw some wildlife out there including a mongoose, some bison, a giant squirrel (second biggest in Asia), monkeys, and a handful of white throated kingfishers. Kingfishers have some fantastic color, a brillant blue on their back, which I tried to capture.
You might be wondering if we saw a tiger in the Tiger Preserve. Yes, we did.
Our trek inluded a complimentary armed guard in the event that we saw an actual tiger.
We chatted with a husband an wife who were both doctors from the neighboring state. He says that Indians do not get out in nature enough and that he and his wife try to get out treking 1-2 days a month. He explained to us that in India the government owns all of the parks and you are not allowed in them without an official guide who takes you on official routes. Quite a contrast to the U.S. where the government does own nearly of the parks but even with those that charge admission you are still able to make your way without a guide.
The girls are saving their last big Henna for Dehli so that it will last as long as possible after they arrive home. However, at our homestay there was a young lady that helped with cleaning and other tasks that also liked to do Henna. She did not want any money but it was an opportunity to give her a huge tip.
Images in 2019 Periyar
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
We arrived in Periyar yesterday and took in a few sites including a martial arts exhibition. When we were in China we visited the Shaolin Temple which is the birthplace of Kung Fu. A particular style of Karate is said to have orginated in Kerela and this was a demonstration of some of that. It started out with some forms which were not too exciting and culminated in some acrobatics through a burning ring of fire. Tara snagged a video of the ring lighting. We were about 15 feet away and it was hot, I can imagine a brush with the metal would have been fun.
Todays adventure was through the Periyar Tiger Preserve. It was a 1.5 hour hike through dense forest out to a lake, a breakfast, a bamboo raft cruise on the lake, then a 1.5 hour hike back to the entrance. The kids are particularly fond of 1.5 hours hikes and were very disappointed that there were only 2.
We saw some wildlife out there including a mongoose, some bison, a giant squirrel (second biggest in Asia), monkeys, and a handful of white throated kingfishers. Kingfishers have some fantastic color, a brillant blue on their back, which I tried to capture.
You might be wondering if we saw a tiger in the Tiger Preserve. Yes, we did.
Our trek inluded a complimentary armed guard in the event that we saw an actual tiger.
We chatted with a husband an wife who were both doctors from the neighboring state. He says that Indians do not get out in nature enough and that he and his wife try to get out treking 1-2 days a month. He explained to us that in India the government owns all of the parks and you are not allowed in them without an official guide who takes you on official routes. Quite a contrast to the U.S. where the government does own nearly of the parks but even with those that charge admission you are still able to make your way without a guide.
The girls are saving their last big Henna for Dehli so that it will last as long as possible after they arrive home. However, at our homestay there was a young lady that helped with cleaning and other tasks that also liked to do Henna. She did not want any money but it was an opportunity to give her a huge tip.
Images in 2019 Periyar
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
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